Marketing
Issue No. 30 - August/September 2006
What women (still) want
Marketing Week 2006
“It would be an exaggeration to suggest we have experienced a revolution in Marketing to Women. In recent times we have certainly witnessed some major changes, cut-through campaigns and a heightened acceptance of the need to understand the female consumer, but we have a long way to go yet,” says Bec Brideson of Venus Advertising, who is an acclaimed creator of marketing to women.
“In the past five years Marketing to Women has grown in momentum from being a minor subject of discussion, to a hot topic and accepted paradigm. We can still do better. There are still a number of key influencers, in key categories, yet to be convinced.
For Bec, figures tell the story. Social change has seen women win telling financial and lifestyle gains. Female consumption has risen. The female consumer is king. In some categories, women are the key decision makers and spend more than men.
“If men, rather than women, had been leading the debate then perhaps the revolution would have occurred faster,” she says. “Perhaps more key decision makers would be truly embracing the principles instead of paying lip service or adopting short-term tactics, rather than long-term strategies.
“For every one man who is seriously doing something about it, there are 100 women, which unfortunately means that the business of marketing to women is too readily dismissed as a ‘chick thing’.”
So what’s wrong with accepted marketing thinking in this area and how did this error come about?
“Perhaps the biggest thing that is wrong is complacency with current practise,” Bec says. “Many marketers think that because their product is for women, they already know how to market to them. Or perhaps many marketers naively think that men are the end users. Hence they miss the opportunity to market to women who are the main grocery buyer, white goods, finance and telco consumers and the key influencers in car purchases.
“Many think that mar...
